General License

[Pearce]

Hi All

 

Just been flicking through this years General License that we all use for our great sport and found out a few interesting things. Such as... Rabbits are not found on any of the licenses covered by the General License but don't panic under Section One of the NE Pest Act 1954 the whole of England, apart from the City of London and Isles of Scilly, has been declared a rabbit clearance area. Under Section 1(2) of the 1954 Act, all occupiers of land in a rabbit clearance area have a continuing obligation to kill or take any wild rabbits living on, or resorting to, their land, unless they can establish that it is not reasonably practicable to do so.

 

That surprised me a little, but this surprised me alot.

Nowhere on any of the NE General Licenses or the Pest Act 1954 could I find the control of grey squirrels, so it seems as if there is an "unwritten rule" on controlling grey squirrels or so I thought until I found a small piece of legislation from the Wildlife and Countryside Act page 12, Section 10, subsection 4 where it states "Not withstanding anything in section 9, an authorised person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of the killing or injuring of a wild animal included in schedule 5 if he shows his action was necessary for preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber or any other form of property or fisheries". Section 9 is "Other Animals" section of the Act and Schedule 5 is the "Prohibition of certain methods of killing or taking wild birds".

Clearly this doesn't state any specific animal to cull for any of the above reasons (apart from those found in sections 9 and 5), so where do we draw the line on what we are/aren't allowed to cull under this section of the Wildlife and Countryside Act? Well that is where the General License comes back into play as all animals in England are now protected by DEFRA with exception those on the General Licenses and Pest Acts set out by Natural England, so I keep going around in circles with one piece of legislation cancelling out the other :blink:

 

So where do we actually stand on shooting squirrels? I cannot find any legislation saying we can't, or any legislation saying we can, its abit of a grey area (excuse the pun). So if your in the know please do contribute because I can't find anything about culling them apart from trapping them. Am I completely missing something here?

 

This isn't a don't shoot squirrels post either,I was shooting them just last night actually, all this is, is a "I can't find that bit of info" post.

 

Here are some links for the info that I've found:

 

Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

http://www.jncc.gov.uk/page-3614#download

 

Natural England General Licenses

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/r...licences.aspx#3

 

Pests Act 1954

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Act...a_19540068_en_1

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Tom

[HW682]

To make it as simple as possible, I think it works like this...

 

It is legal to kill any wild mammal apart from some specific exceptions (for example Badgers etc)

 

It is illegal to kill any wild bird apart from some specific exceptions (for example those covered by the general license)

 

Hence, you will not see squirrel or rat etc on any license for the reason that it isn't needed.

 

HW682

Edited July 18, 2010 by HW682

[Colster]

The General Licences refer specifically to birds, all birds are protected subject to exemptions laid out in the General Licences. Under the Pest control laws you're allowed to shoot "Vermin".

 

Vermin is a wooly definition but exists to define an animal when it's numbers or a behavorial trait mean that it poses a threat to crops, food hygiene or livestock.

 

In the case of rats (tree and ground), they could pretty much never be considered anything other than vermin but rabbits on heathland aren't vermin so technically I'm theoretically breaking the law when I shoot them to control their numbers for their own good (and the good of the heathland).

 

Foxes on an arable farm (that doesn't have a pheasant shoot) can't really be classed as vermin either.

[CharlieT]

To make it as simple as possible, I think it works like this...

 

It is legal to kill any wild mammal apart from some specific exceptions (for example Badgers etc)

 

It is illegal to kill any wild bird apart from some specific exceptions (for example those covered by the general license)

 

Hence, you will not see squirrel or rat etc on any license for the reason that it isn't needed.

 

HW682

 

 

Could not be simpler than that...................spot on.